Online clicks pave the way to record furniture sales

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013

The latest IBIS World report has recognised Milan Direct as Australia’s market leader in online furniture sales. The exclusively online retailer came out ahead of bricks and mortar powerhouses such as IKEA, Harvey Norman and Freedom Furniture.

The report shows Milan Direct holds a 6.1% share of the $300 million dollar plus industry and predicts online furniture sales will grow by 16% this financial year.

Milan Direct co-founder Dean Ramler said the company was delighted with the results, adding that Milan Direct believes online furniture sales will ultimately spell the end for traditional bricks and mortar stores.

“The desire to visit a physical retail store takes on increasingly less significance as more people experience the ease, value and convenience of buying furniture online,” he said.

“From the very beginning we were told we were crazy, that furniture would never sell successfully online. These so called ‘experts’ were adamant that furniture – whether it be office chairs or mattresses - would always be something people preferred to see and test first.

“It’s fair to say our success has silenced those critics.

“A furniture piece with comfort in its name – the ergonomic office chair - is actually our best selling product! What could be a bigger testament to the irrelevance of needing to physically test a product?

“In the end though it all comes down to price, service and quality and with a purely online business model these aspects can be exploited without compromise every time,” he said.

“In addition we knew that the key to true and sustained online success was removing any remaining risks the customer perceived through things like photos, videos and money-back guarantees. The success of our approach speaks for itself,” he said.

With IBIS predicating continued strong growth in the online retail sector, Mr Ramler said Milan Direct is pleased to be at the forefront of what it deems to be the furniture-shopping mode of the future.

“While it’s still something new for many, buying furniture online is a practice that’s here to stay and we have no doubt it’s something that will continue to appeal to increasing numbers of younger and older consumers alike,” he said.

Selling exclusively online, Milan Direct offers a wide range of premium-end furniture reproductions of modern-retro classics. All products come with a full 14 day money-back guarantee.